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HANDOUT<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nThe number of babies born in England and Wales is now the lowest since the 1970s, official statistics show.<\/p>\n The fertility rate<\/a> – which measures how many children are born per woman during her child-bearing years – is the lowest on record at 1.44. Scotland’s is even lower at 1.3.<\/p>\n Britain is not unique – most countries are experiencing declining fertility and some are even going to great lengths to create a baby boom<\/a>.<\/p>\n So what’s causing the fall-off in fertility? There’s the high cost of bringing up children, the pressure to stay in work and the challenge of finding the right partner.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n But there’s also evidence that more and more young adults don’t plan on having any children at all.<\/p>\n BBC News has spoken to two women and two men in their early thirties – the average age at which people in England and Wales become parents – to get their thoughts on the issue.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Ellie Lambert, who lives in Sheffield, wants to have children but says she hasn’t found a suitable partner.<\/p>\n Two years ago, she spent \u00a318,000 on two cycles of egg freezing<\/a>. “I find it really frustrating, it’s a lot of cost for something that may not ever lead to anything,” she says.<\/p>\n She hopes to use them if she meets someone, or if she reaches a financial situation where she can “go it alone” with the aid of a sperm donor.<\/p>\n Ellie says she ‘s concerned about the additional financial pressure on single-parent households.<\/p>\n A report<\/a> from the Child Poverty Action Group last year found the average cost of raising a child to age 18 was \u00a3166,000 for a couple and \u00a3220,000 for a lone parent.<\/p>\n Though Ellie thought she would meet someone by her late 20s, “despite proactively being on all of the apps, it just didn’t happen.”<\/p>\n She says dating had become “fruitless”, citing the seemingly endless choice that dating apps offer as a factor, with fewer people wanting to commit.<\/p>\n But going it alone would be “a big decision”, says Ellie, who earns more than \u00a360,000 on a fixed-term contract.<\/p>\n Having already spent her savings on egg freezing, she says it would cost a further \u00a310,000 to use a sperm donor with IVF.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n HGV driver Chris Taylor and dog groomer Gemma Wrathmell jointly earn an income of about \u00a360,000 and have been together for 11 years.<\/p>\n The couple, who live in Wakefield in West Yorkshire, considered having children. <\/p>\n “We have had deep conversations where we go through the options and discuss things like school, cost and routine,” Gemma says.<\/p>\n But the conclusion was that the cost was too high<\/a>.<\/p>\n “After all our bills and essentials there is no room in the budget to accommodate a child,” Chris says. “We don’t see how our finances will get any better within the next few years.”<\/p>\n As a result, they have taken a “definitive decision” – Chris is seeking to have a vasectomy, after years of Gemma having a contraceptive implant.<\/p>\n “Some people have said you’ll change your mind, but they know it’s our decision,” says Gemma.<\/p>\n “I’m also not that maternal,” she adds.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n For Dami Olonisakin, a sex and relationships podcaster who lives in London, improvements in fertility treatments – such as egg freezing – are “empowering” and give women “more control than ever”.<\/p>\n Motherhood, she says, is not something to “be taken lightly”.<\/p>\n “Childcare costs are soaring, maternity policies are limited, women basically have to think really hard,” she says.<\/p>\n She also wants to have the “support system” of a long-term partner in place before having children.<\/p>\n But she isn’t in a hurry. “I don’t feel I’m in a rush to settle down and have kids just because it’s expected,” she says.<\/p>\n Instead she is focusing on her career after growing up in a household that “didn’t have anything”.<\/p>\n “I remember thinking to myself, ‘I am never ever putting a child through this’,” she says. <\/p>\n “[My parents] absolutely did their best, but I’ve always said I will not have a child until I’m… ready.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Kari Aaron Clark, a senior research fellow at the Royal Academy of Engineering, earns \u00a353,000 but feels he can’t afford to raise a child in London.<\/p>\n Four years ago, his salary was \u00a322,000 while completing his PhD.<\/p>\n His partner Kaitlyn, who is currently a PhD student, is under similar financial strain.<\/p>\n It means despite Kari’s above-average salary, he has had less time to save for a property – something he thinks is essential before becoming a parent because of the “relatively insecure” nature of renting.<\/p>\n He also cites the costs of childcare. According to a recent report<\/a> by children’s charity Coram, the average weekly price for a full-time childcare place for children under three in the UK is about \u00a3300, compared with nearly \u00a3430 in inner London.<\/p>\n Kari says his views are shared by Kaitlyn – and they are both concerned about the effects of the climate crisis<\/a>.<\/p>\n “I’m quite happy with the idea of adopting. That way I’m helping someone already struggling in the system,” he says. <\/p>\n “I can adopt after they’ve got through the childcare stage.”<\/p>\n But despite his current pessimism about the viability of becoming a biological parent, Kari says he “wouldn’t write it off”.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n This all raises the question of what the future holds if fewer children are being born.<\/p>\n Declining fertility rates are not just about people delaying parenthood, but about a growing trend of people not having children, says Brienna Perelli-Harris, professor of demography at the University of Southampton.<\/p>\n Data from the recent UK Generations and Gender Survey<\/a> suggests that childless adults today are far less confident they will have children, with a quarter of 18 to 25-year-olds saying they would probably or definitely not have a child.<\/p>\n “Gen Z are more likely to want to stay childless,” she says. “Before, it might have been more of a taboo – it’s now more acceptable.<\/p>\n “And it’s down to economic factors like future income, childcare costs and employment.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n “In the long term… the population will start to shrink,” Prof Perelli-Harris adds.<\/p>\n “If it gets to 1.3 [children per woman] – that’s seen as very low and government should start getting concerned.”<\/p>\n Concerns have previously been raised<\/a> about shrinking fertility rates in countries where there’s long been a downward trend, including the need for more young people to work as carers for an ageing population and pay tax.<\/p>\n But populations can continue to grow for a long time after fertility falls below 2.1 children per woman, known as the replacement level – the number of children required to ensure a population replaces itself from one generation to the next – the ONS says<\/a>.<\/p>\n This is the case in the UK and other countries like Spain and Italy, where the fertility rate is even lower.<\/p>\n “Immigration can stall population decline or even reverse it,” says Prof Perelli-Harris. <\/p>\n “I do not think we will see the UK population start to decline for the foreseeable future, although the ageing of the population will become even more pronounced.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nEllie, 39: I’ve frozen my eggs<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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HANDOUT<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nChris and Gemma: Vasectomy aged 33<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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HANDOUT<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nDami, 34: I’m waiting until I’m ready<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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HANDOUT<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nKari, 34: I like the idea of adopting<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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HANDOUT<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\nWhat does this mean for the future?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n